Author: Interview by Maria Sidelnikova, exclusive to VK
This April, while still prime minister, Vladimir Putin signed a decree approving the concept of the state youth policy in the regions belonging to the North Caucasus Federal District. The document, the development of which was initiated by the envoy Alexander Khloponin, aims to address a number of long-standing problems relating to the situation of young people in the North Caucasus.
The concept focuses on the lack of social mobility and opportunities for professional development of young people living in the district. It notes the organizational weakness of the government agencies and personnel responsible for working with youth. In the regions of North Caucasus Federal District 8-9 thousand young people account for each qualified employee, while the average for Russia is not more than three thousand.
According to the authors of the document, youth policy in the North Caucasus should be brought into line with the practice nationwide. From now on, it is based on several key principles: increasing the participation of young people and civil society in the implementation of the state youth policy; targeting and personal approach in the development and implementation of appropriate measures; priority of the interests of young people and taking into account their views in the development of comprehensive regional and sectoral programs of socio-economic development; interagency cooperation in the implementation of youth policies, as well as information transparency and independence of evaluation of youth work.
The concept requires to intensify spiritual, moral and patriotic education for young people, to work out a list of measures to involve the audience in social practices (including all types of employment and voluntary work), to build a system of support for talented young people and children who find themselves in a difficult situation.
The document also includes the development of All-Caucasian Youth Forum "Mashuk" as one of the central elements of youth policy of the district. Together with the rest of forums in the regions, "Mashuk" will be the main platform for identifying and supporting innovative and talented young people.
Already at the first stage of the concept (2012-2014) it is planned to upgrade at least 40% of existing institutions working with young people, to ensure the involvement in projects and programs of support up to a quarter of all young people of the district, to increase by at least double the number of young people, taking part in international and interregional initiatives.
Head of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, told VK about the work in these areas in the republic.
- Youth policy is one of the most poignant issues in the North Caucasus at the moment, because unemployment and extremism are thriving, which means that it is necessary to direct the energy of young people in the right direction. How do you assess the initiatives that are currently taking place in this direction?
- I would not say that unemployment and extremism are flourishing among us, on the contrary they are declining. Especially as we are, in particular I'm talking about the republic of Ingushetia, reducing unemployment, introducing the practice of job placements for young people. Even in violation of the law of the Russian Federation, given the fact that we are a special region, we call for those who reach retirement age to be dismissed, even though they have the right to continue to work, but we believe that we have almost no career opportunities for the young, and the young have to more or less clearly see this career ladder. Therefore, we do things like that and go to such lengths for the sake of the young. So, of course, when we observe the dynamics of what it used to be last year, and what it is today, the difference in the involvement of young people in extremism is much lower and job placements of young people are much higher today.
Even the form that we have implemented this year for the first time, understanding that graduates cannot be given jobs, a priori there are not enough jobs, we chose 68 people who graduated from higher education institutions with honors, and all one hundred percent of them were placed in employment. We have even taken such steps.
Of course, we conduct talks at schools with classes starting from the ninth grade. I have set an objective to explain to children and help them in choosing their careers. I also speak in front of students and applicants and also explain that if they choose to be a lawyer or an economist, it does not mean that you will get a job, it is necessary to choose a profession and to understand what it is. This year 375 people graduated from economics, but there were only 26 jobs in the field of economics in the country.
The policy, which is now being conducted, you know Mashuk... First of all, I know how it all started, that was primarily thanks to Alexander G. Khloponin. Why? Because we looked at Seliger. After Alexander G. Khloponin became the head of the district, the topic arose, and was discussed with the main subjects, and it was decided to organize a Caucasian "Seliger", we called it Mashuk after Mashuk... Today this movement is gaining momentum. And immediately this idea was developed not only at the district level, but also at the level of subjects. The youth forum in Dombai, which is held, a youth forum in Ingushetia - Targim, which is already not only all-Russian or a district festival, but already an international one. Why? Because this year foreigners are coming to us, the Canadians and the British, as well as the Dutch, that is, people come from different countries of the world. Again, this is not just a drop in the general youth policies in the region, but rather a serious help for the participation of the young in public life in general and not only in the life of the region, but of the country as a whole.
I would even mention the branded Caucasian games that have already become the brand of our district. This is also mostly an activity for the young.
- What kind of games?
- These are fairly branded games. Everyone gathers, and though in their own way young people participate in these games, these are traditional sports of the Caucasian peoples, and everything is being demonstrated. But when Caucasian farmsteads of all Caucasian peoples are exhibited it is a great work and a lot of people come through. Surprisingly, people say that they do not want other regions of Russia to be interested in their culture, but they themselves, neighbors, living next to each other, do not quite know each others' cultures and customs. Looking at the farmsteads of their own people, their neighbors, many are surprised by some things. That is, there are even such strategies implemented to attract more young people into the mainstream public life of the country and the region.
I would like to stress that we are now initiating a good movement involving the "neighborhood youth gangs". We are mostly working with the intellectual youth, I hope neighborhood youth gangs will not be offended, this is how I call the two groups. But neighborhood youth gangs are very active and not always involved in some things. We are currently working on this in the country. My assistant, advisor in this area and the chairman of the Youth Committee in the near future, will report to me with a general strategy of youth policy, and part of that strategy will focus on the neighborhood youth gangs. We'll see what happens.
- I think it is a really interesting project, because these two groups of youth do not communicate much with each other and therefore when something is directed in only one direction, it is lost for the other direction. You have talked about positive tendencies. Can you give us some numbers?
- The numbers are the following: Over the summer of 2011, nearly 800 people, young people in their own republic, have participated in the public life as part of construction teams and work crews. This included not only paid activities, but voluntary work. Figures show that in 2011 we conducted about 170, I am saying it from my memory, youth enterprises and events with the participation of young people, involving different groups of young people in this direction. Of course, the fact that we have increased the budget of the Youth Committee from 20 million in 2011 to 50 million in 2012 is a pretty good, a major breakthrough. In 2013 we will probably leave it the same, but the activities that we are building will be much more developed. Again, I stress, it is not only the Youth Committee conducting activities.
Our Ministry of Sports conducts almost 90% of its youth activities out of all activities. Competitions, events - everything that is organized by them. And there is not a 9, 10 or 20 percent increase. The sports activities with the participation of young people have increased by 150 and 200 percent this year alone. If before 2009-2010 only three different regional competitions were held, this time in the country in the course of 2011 and 2012... I cannot remember… But in 2012 only there were more than 80 different types of competitions, which had never taken place before. And this is a huge attraction for the youth. The number of people involved in sports, if before we had a coverage of about 2-3% people involved in sports, today it is already 9% of the population, children involved in sports. And not just in cities; we create in communities kinds of national stadiums, produce various exercise machines and work out on them.
We have studied the experience of Moscow, we are afraid to make a mistake, it is such a fashionable foreign word - of backyard playing grounds. On November 15 I will open four such sites in the country, and in the following year we will build 30 such sites. It is in the framework of the program designed for the neighborhood gangs to keep them from hiding in dirty corners, namely to make them work out, pump iron at playing grounds and be busy with something, apply their energies only to horizontal and parallel bars, to these things. These are the figures we have today.
